Ann Arbor City Council Preview: December 19, 2022

Gentle reader, tonight is the last #a2Council meeting of the year. Here's the agenda. 

The evening kicks off with a moderate 13-item consent agenda, but it looks like all the items that require 8 items have been pulled, leaving only 5 items. We do have street closures. CA-1 for the Mayors Autumnal Green Fair and CA-2 for the September Tech Trek. CA-13 is the contract with the AAPD officer union. 

There are no public hearings on the docket but there is an ordinance first reading. C-1 is an ordinance revise the best value procurement program. 

On to the resolutions! DC-1, DC-2, and DC-3 are is a resolutions to appoint a members to various boards and commissions. DC-4 is a resolution to adopt the city's legislative policy agenda for the FY23. DC-5 is an amendment to the city's contract with Recycle Ann Arbor. 

And that's all there is. Looks like a pretty modest agenda. What items are you most looking forward to seeing? Hopefully we will see you there. The CTN stream starts at 7 pm. Make sure you follow the action on the #a2Council hashtag or on a2mi.social. 

Improving Housing Affordability by Expanding Downtown

Editor's note: This is a guest opinion by Abdulrahman Ateya. If you're interested in sharing an opinion, reach out to damn.arbor@gmail.com, drop us a DM on twitter, or a2mi.social. 

Ann Arbor is a city that loves zoning. We love zoning so much, we have thirty-three different zoning classifications! (The entire country of Japan, for comparison, only has 13 zoning classifications.) Our unified development code, which includes everything you may ever need to know about Ann Arbor’s zoning (to be clear, not building), is 319 pages long. We started with 4 districts in 1923^{1, 2} and probably never thought we would get this far. (Of course, we also have eight comprehensive planning documents.)

Restrictive zoning is a significant barrier to increasing the affordability of housing. The US is not producing enough housing, which is exacerbating the cost of finding a place to live. More housing lowers rent, and more ‘permissive’ zoning leads to more construction³. D1 and D2, Ann Arbor’s “downtown” zones were designed explicitly with the construction of more housing in mind⁴, and as a result, are some of the best zoning we have. Unfortunately, Ann Arbor has far too little of these two zoning categories. But there is a solution: expanding D1 and D2 zones would be good for the city. It would lead to more housing construction, more housing supply, and housing affordability.

Ann Arbor City Council Preview: December 5, 2022

 

It's beginning to look a lot like #a2Council. Here's the agenda. 

The evening kicks off with a brief, 8-item consent agenda. Of note: CA-1, a MOU betwixt city and county for a new trail and underpass connecting Barton Nature Area and Bandemere Park. You really love to see this. I've probably been crossing here for the better part of three decades. It's wonderful to see the city and county working to build up a robust trail system. 

There are no public hearings nor ordinance readings on the agenda tonight. So, on to the resolutions! DC-1 is a resolution on appointments to the Washtenaw Regional Resource Management Authority. DC-2 is approval of new council rules. DC-3 is 2023 Council Committee Assignments. DC-4 sets the #a2Council meeting calendar for next year. DC-5 is a resolution asking planning commission to look at two changes to the TC1 zone: incorporating limited automobile-related uses excluding drive throughs and gas stations and looking at some potential issues with narrow rights of way. DC-6 is a motion to suspend council rules to allow the council to reconsider the state trunkline study the conservative faction on the old council tanked in September. This is a really important step in making Ann Arbor safer by allowing the city to take control of its trunkline roads from MDOT. 

And that's all there is. Looks like a pretty modest agenda. What items are you most looking forward to seeing? Hopefully we will see you there. The CTN stream starts at 7 pm. Make sure you follow the action on the #a2Council hashtag.